Rudy Carrera

Wicked though some of these despots may be, there’s something strangely attractive about weird leaders who develop a cult of personality. Whether it be Fidel Castro, Kim Jong-Il or the Duvalier Family who ruined Haiti, these guys have something that gets otherwise sensible people to follow them down into oblivion.

A good case in point would be the legendary Turkmenbashi, Saparmyrat Niyazov, who led Turkmenistan from 1991 until his death in 2006. He had his picture everywhere, had a gold monument erected for himself, and even wrote a supplement to the Quran that was required in every mosque in the country. Thankfully, the new leadership, led under Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, is shying away from some grotesque scenes of indulgence to something less obnoxiously autocratic.

A major symbol, an arch with a 246-foot, is about to be moved from the center of Ashgabat, Turkmenistan’s capital. Good riddance.

HT: BBC.